Eas-ay! Eas-ay!

First official match in charge and it’s a win in the Dutch Super Cup. I wanted to bring the fans a taste of things to come, and I think I just about managed it in this 2-0 victory against a good FC Twente side. The bookies and the pundits had us likely to be the winners, so the result wasn’t too much of a surprise, but you never know against these good teams.

The first goal came from one of their player’s poor pitch-length pass; our full back stamped it out and played a good through ball, two touches later it was in the back of the net! 10 mins later we had a penalty given our way, personally I thought it was a big call to make and wouldn’t have begrudged the ref if he didn’t give it, but he gave it. Unluckily for us we did not capatalise and our midfielder Lodeiro hit the cross-bar. So later, when we got another penalty in the 65^th min I wanted to see if he could not bottle it this time. He didn’t and we eased to victory.

Overall, we had a good game our opponents didn’t come at us and ultimately gave away chances under the pressure. Two penalties and a poor pass gave us our chances, so we seem to miss a bit of creativity – but I’ll put that down to the team not being adjusted yet to my tactics. It’ll come… just might take a bit longer

Why Don’t You Just Leave Me Alone?

In the past few days I have met the press; during the interview I told them my loft ambitions to turn Ajax from some UEFA Cup come-feeder-club to the Premiership, to one which can consistently make the Semi-Finals. This went down well with the fans, the board and the players who wanted to make an impact on the European stage.

I’ve also finished appointing my backroom and shuffling jobs around so I may bring in fellow countrymen. However, due to the language barrier, I kept on a majority of Dutch staff but offered them shorter contracts to the transition will happen slowly. However, I did sign about 7 new scouts who specialise in spotting raw talent across Europe. I have opted to hire two Dutch scouts as well so one will scout Holland for me while the other will travel to South America for young players. I am hoping that if we are able to bring across 2 or 3 young players from his trip, when they come to playing first team football, they will have Dutch duel passports.

On the bad side, my phone has nearly been non-stop will calls from so called ‘talent agents’ trying to whore out their players onto this club. I suspect these money men are trying to make some quick cash from a sale onto an inexperienced manager who’s looking to make an impact. Well, here is now, I will not be taking on their supposedly great services. There is a reason why I hired so many scouts, so that – I – can be the one who is good and who is not with their help. Not the help of someone who gets paid per-sale.

To end, we have a match in the Dutch Super Cup [their Community Shield] this Saturday against FC Twente. I want to give the fans a taste of things to  come, so we will be looking to attack from the start and win this ‘minor’ trophy.

Let's See This Team Then Uri

It’s the first week on the job; I’ve called up the unlucky 18 staff who I have sacked. Having over 15 Youth Coaches put me in an uncompromising position as I looked to bring more diversity and my own people. Reshuffling those who were not cut out to be Youth Coaches into teaching the First Team has also saved some money.

Wednesday 14^th July 2010, two days into my management of the club we have our first game against Ajax Cape Town – a South African academy the club set up. As I had yet to have a formal training session with the players, I let the assistant manager Danny Blind pick the team in a formation I created. This also was not an important or difficult match, so I asked him to tell the players to go out and show me what they could do against weaker opposition.

Tactic

Match Result

Overall the match went well, Mido disappointed upfront missing an easy opportunity and a poor back-pass nearly cost the team dear at 1-0. El Hamdaoui also had a disappointing first 20 mins, but improved later with a cross of his ending up in the back of the net from a big deflection. Later, though, with two goals coming from corners in the latter half restored some confidence in me that the team was learning the tactics I set up.